


What's a wolf without a pack

by attemptingfanfiction



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Touch-Starved, WDFSBB
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 00:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9692039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attemptingfanfiction/pseuds/attemptingfanfiction
Summary: Kate is about to leave, yet another, town when she bumps into a hunter, Charlie, who mistakes her for being a hunter as well. Kate plays along to avoid Charlie finding out the truth about her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the first ever Wayward Daughters Femslash Big Bang. This is also the first piece of fanfiction I have ever finished and presented to the world for other people to read, so bear with me. 
> 
> Art is by the lovely [thebadwoldgoddess](http://thebadwolfgoddess.tumblr.com/) who did a truly amazing job. I’m so grateful I got to work with her. Her art to this fic can be found [here](http://thebadwolfgoddess.tumblr.com/post/157173790458/my-art-for-whats-a-wolf-without-a-pack-by)
> 
> Beta read by the kind Toastiel

”Blueberry pancakes – extra whipped cream” the waitress announced putting down the plate on the table before she quickly moved to the next one, coffee pot ready in hand. Kate looked down at the pile. September 3rd, her baby sisters’ birthday, had always started with pancakes for breakfast. Blueberry and chocolate topped with small mountains of whipped cream and drenched with syrup. Their mom had laughed and said that it looked more like dessert than breakfast, but had let it slide- special birthday privileges. Even when they got older and wanted to go out with friends instead, claiming they were ‘too old’ for birthday parties, the tradition of the birthday pancakes survived. Today Tasha would be 17. 

Kate grabbed the syrup and squeezed a generous amount, emptying almost half the bottle, over her pancakes. She took a bite and was, once again, disappointed. It was sweet but there was something off with the taste. Like everything else it didn’t taste as good as she remembered. Nowadays the only thing that tasted really good was meat. She kept eating anyway, there was nothing wrong wither appetite after all. She looked up as she heard a car pull in to the parking lot, tensing up as she listened. When the engine shut off and she could hear the people in the car she relaxed. It was two people, probably a couple, arguing over something trivial, decidedly not a treat. She kept listening in as they crossed the parking lot approaching the diner entrance. Kate followed them with all her senses as they entered the diner and walked up to the counter, lively continuing their argument. 

She was abruptly pulled from her eaves dropping by the sound of a new heart beat. Immediately her brain tried to analyze the situation. They must have come from behind the diner and on foot but the fact that she hadn’t noticed them until they were at the door made her own heart pick up pace and she scorned herself for the loss of focus. A young woman walked in. Her read hair almost looked like it glowed when hit by the morning sun streaming in from the open door behind her. And when she tossed it with a small flick of her head Kate could have sworn time slowed down and she watched the woman’s fiery hair as if it moved in slow motion. 

Kate quickly looked away as not to get caught starring. Instead she took a deep breath through her nose smelling her in. There was a notable smell of “worn in” like the woman had been living out of her bag and not had time to do laundry in a while. It wasn’t a bad smell; it was just a distinct smell of person. There was a hint of steel and silver which put her on alert but she knew that didn’t have to mean danger; it could be jewelry, or piercings or a number of other innocent things. She smelt no gun powder, no oil, no residues of blood from small creatures combined with herbs for weird protection spells. She scoffed at herself inwardly. Just because the woman was wearing plaid didn’t mean she was a hunter. All the smells were wrapped up in a vaguely familiar flowery scent but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. 

She went back to her pancakes as the woman sat down by the counter and ordered eggs and coffee. The couple from before was continuing their discussion and Kate zoned out to the sound of their voices and the cluttering of dishes. She focused on finishing her pancakes so she could be on her way. 

She never spent very long time in the same town. In the end it hurt too much, having to leave once she’d gotten some sense of belonging to a place and the people there. And she always had to leave; sometimes sooner sometimes later. In the beginning, when she was twitchy and paranoid and new to this life, she’d moved to a new place after every full moon. But to constantly having to familiar herself to new territory was stressful and made her lose focus and control; control that she very well needed that night every month when the change was inescapable. 

Every now and then she’d get lulled in to this false sense of security, thinking that maybe this time, she’d be able to stay. But she never could and she never seemed to learn that. Even though the last year had made her more jaded and over all cynical there was still that spark of hope that wouldn’t get smashed down no matter what. Or maybe it was just a matter of time. She hadn’t stayed very long in this particular town but already liked it. It was a town for passersby. Relatively small but located near the highway, people came and went not paying much attention to each other. The locals who didn’t make their living on the truckers and tourists passing through worked for the national park, which was another reason why Kate liked it here. Acres after acres of ancient forest and miles deep into it nothing but animals and creatures set foot. She’d been staking out the area and as much as she hated the change she had been looking forward to really be able to stretch her legs. But now she had to up and leave, again.

But for now, for just a short moment, she was just going to pretend that she wasn’t living out of her bag, never belonging, constantly on the run. For a moment she just wanted to be an ordinary girl, having breakfast in a shitty diner, reading the paper and watching the people that went by.

She finished off her pancakes and looked up to the catch waitress’ attention but instead she caught the gaze of the red haired woman looking intently at her with a smile playing at her lips. The smile only grew as the woman dragged her gaze up and down Kate’s body and when she met her eyes again Kate couldn’t help herself and she blushed as she looked away. As if this had been the signal she’d been waiting for the woman got up and walked over to the table sliding in to the booth opposite of Kate.

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” were the actual words coming out of her mouth. 

Kate raised an eyebrow and gave her a disbelieving look. The redhead had the decency to blush in embarrassment. Kate couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Really!?” Kate said just to add to it. The woman sighed but kept blushing.

“Yeah, not my best – eh… anything.” She made a waving hand gesture but cleared her throat.

“So, tourist passing through, what can’t I miss?”

“Don’t know. Not a local.”

The woman eyed her disbelievingly.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Considering this for a moment she smiled and said

“I’m Charlie.”

Kate hesitated for a moment too long before she caught herself. Hesitating was exactly the thing not to do. 

“Kate” she replied. She really wasn’t cut out for this life. She couldn’t tell a believable lie for the life of her. She couldn’t even give out a false name. 

“So, those freak accidents, huh?” Charlie said in a faked casual tone, gesturing toward the newspaper next to Kate’s plate. Kate considered playing unknowing but the article was turned face up and she didn’t trust her own ability to lie for one second. 

This was the reason she was leaving. Specifically the reason she was leaving right now. She never moved during the days leading up to the full moon. During the full moon you kept to the place you’ve scouted out before hand; you stayed put. 

“Yeah, gruesome…”

“Gruesome!? That’s the least you can call it. The man was completely mauled, torn to shreds.” Charlie leaned forward and lowered her voice.

“Not only that, but their hearts were missing.”

And with that reality came crashing back. If Kate’s poker face had been bad before, this piece of new information wiped the last of it right off her face. The local paper had said it had been “violent and mysterious” death and mentioned that the body had been found in the woods far out at the edge of town. Other than that it had been vague, probably to minimize the commotion as not to scare off the tourists, but it had been enough for Kate to decide to leave. That was one of the rules she’d built her life around – if there’s the smallest sign of trouble you leave. But this, she hadn’t expected this. 

Before she could come up with an appropriate reaction to that information (and really, what is a “normal” reaction to something like that?) her thoughts were interrupted. 

“Ha! I knew it!” Charlie had a look of triumph on her face and all but pointed at her. 

Kate froze. But before she could get in to full panic mode Charlie continued in a lowered voice.

“You’re a hunter too, aren’t you?”

Kate’s brain went haywire. Charlie thought she was a hunter? How on earth had she come to that conclusion? And then the more pressing question came to mind; ‘too’?! Charlie was a hunter?! She was sitting across someone who made it their business to kill people like her. (Someone who would, in fact, argue that Kate didn’t fall into the category ‘people’) 

“Eh-” Kate was at loss for words. How could she respond to that?

She tried again.

“Eh- What?” Great work there.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to blow your cover or anything. Sorry!” Charlie looked genuinely distressed.

“No, it’s okay.” Wait, what? Apparently she was going with this. Probably better that Charlie thought she was a hunter than… anything else.

Charlie breathed out in relief and smiled. 

“So, what’ve you got? I figure we might as well pull our resources and work this case together. Two pair of eyes sees more than one pair and so on. Not to mention two pair of hands can hold more weapons. Besides, I’ve always wanted someone to call my partner.” She said the last thing with a wink.

Once again Kate couldn’t help her blush creeping up her neck at the blatant flirting. She cleared her throat. 

“I’m actually not- working this case.” She clarified, trying to sound convincing. Charlie just raised her eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look as if she didn’t believe her for a minute.

“Yeah, sure. You’re just casually looking through that article, you’re obviously here for a hike in the park dressed like that, and you don’t live on the road out of your bag.” She said it with a smile and there was nothing mean about the way she said it. “And I’d bet my comic collection that knife hidden in your boot has a silver blade.” 

Kate opened her mouth to protest but closed it right away, swallowing her words. Well, she wasn’t wrong. Charlie seemed to take this as confirmation.

“Thought so. What’ve you got?”

Kate decided the only thing she could do was to play along. She scrambled her brain for anything that might seem relevant and started recounting everything she knew about the surrounding forest and the part where the attack had happened; which roads went out there and how far. 

“What’ve you got on the victim’s injuries?” Charlie asked when she’d finished.

“Eh, nothing… more than what it says in the paper. I haven’t gotten around checking that… yet.” Luckily, Charlie didn’t seem to think she was being weird and continued to tell what she’d found out so far, based on the coroner’s report which she mysteriously seemed to have full access to from her tablet. When she was finished she snatched a blueberry from Kate’s plate and popped it into her mouth.

“So, I’m thinking: dig a little in the archive of the local paper, plus maybe a few towns in every direction, or maybe that’s being too ambitious? Anyway, just to see if this is a recurring thing every full moon trying to figure out if we’re dealing a local pack or a stray, passing through. Sounds good?”

No. It did not sound good. In fact, it sounded very bad. She had to say something, get out of this, now.

Charlie left no room for an answer, just got up swiftly “Come on, I’ve got all we need in my room. It’s not far.”

She threw down a few bills on the table and marched towards the doors. Kate grabbed her backpack and got up. She at least had to catch up with Charlie to return her money. She could pay for her own breakfast, thank you very much. 

Charlie was halfway across the parking lot when Kate caught up with her. 

“I got breakfast covered.” She held the bills out. 

Charlie just waved dismissively. “You can get it next time.”

Kate was about to start protesting when Charlie stopped in front of the first door at the motel across the parking lot. She turned around with a grin. 

“Told you it wasn’t far.” She unlocked the door and stepped in. Kate stood frozen in the doorway taking it all in; the sight, the smell. 

Kate didn’t like motel rooms and avoided them at all costs if she could. The smells of all those people inhabiting the same small space through the course of years and years, made her inner wolf cringe. Hundreds of stranger’s smells, not one of them familiar so that she could sort it out of the mix. It made her feel crowded and alone at the same time. But this felt different. There were all these foreign smells but wrapped around it was the new but somehow already familiar smell that was Charlie. A few shirts were hanging over a chair. A duffel bag lay opened on the floor. 

“Well, don’t just stand there.” Kate was pulled from her thoughts. “Do I have to invite you in? You’re not a vampire are you?” 

Kate gave a nervous laugh and stepped over the threshold. Charlie pretended to sigh in relief. “Phew, for a second I was worried I was gonna have to cut off that pretty head of yours.”

Charlie pulled out a laptop from her shoulder bag. 

“I’ll pull some stuff from the newspaper’s archives and send you half the files to you. You got a laptop?” Kate nodded and dug the laptop out of her back pack. She’d had to upgrade her backpack to something a little bigger and sturdier and now it contained her whole life: her laptop, a few changes of clothes and other necessities, and her beloved camera. She sat down across from Charlie at the small motel table and opened the files that Charlie sent to her.

There were articles after articles, everything between lost dogs and homicide. Charlie had tried to limit the searches, but it wasn’t completely easy when you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for. The articles didn’t exactly spell out ‘werewolf killing’. 

Every now and then Charlie started smattering away at the laptop keyboard and Kate couldn’t help but look up from the tablet. She scrunched up her nose and looked like she tried to stare down whatever it was on the screen when she concentrated at the task before her. It felt weirdly intimate noticing such a simple personal trait and Kate found herself looking up over and over again.

A while in Charlie gave a deep sigh and moved to one of the beds, flipping down on to the mattress. 

After hours of fruitless research Charlie announced that it was time for food break and ordered take out. 

Kate propped herself up on the other bed, leaning against the head board. Charlie grabbed a container from the bag on the table and plopped down next to Kate. 

“Wanna watch something?” she said and turned the TV on without waiting for a respond. Kate didn’t exactly freeze on the spot but it was a close thing. Not only had she avoided getting close to people in the emotional way but, she realized now, it had been a long time she’d been this physically close to someone. Charlie must have sensed her sudden reaction because she pulled away a little, but not getting off the bed, and turned to Kate.

“Is this okay?” 

Kate nodded “Yeah, it’s okay.” As the words left her mouth she realized how much she meant them. 

Charlie seemed satisfied with the answer and scooted back in to her space.

“Good.”

After deciding there was nothing good on Charlie brought her laptop to the end of the bed and put on an episode of some series she was watching, swearing to Kate it was awesome and that it would change her life.

They went back to the research after a while and worked in comfortable silence.

“Hey, maybe you can look through the coroner’s report, see if I missed anything.” Charlie said.

Charlie hadn’t been exaggerated when she’d said it’d been worse than gruesome. The body was torn apart, judging by the injuries, by deep cuts, possibly made by claws, Kate observed. If she had to guess she’d say it was most likely the work of a werewolf but not an ordinary kill. There was nothing of the clean and efficient hunting for food she practiced in her own killing of animals; this was a bestial rage kill. 

Charlie gave a heavy sigh.

“Find anything?” 

Kate just shook her head.

Charlie yawed. “I say we call it a night, and continue tomorrow. We should check out the crime scene and probably talk to the local police and coroner. And if nothing turns up we’ll just have to hike out into the woods.”

This was such a terrible idea Kate didn’t even know where to start. In fact this whole thing was a terrible idea. What was she even doing? She couldn’t pretend to be a hunter, this was insane. She needed to end this charade right now and get the hell out of this.

“I usually do work alone…” Kate tried sounding confident missing it by a mile.

Charlie’s face fell a little.

“If you don’t want to work with me you just have to say so.”

Her voice wasn’t sharp, just honest and a little sad. 

“No, it’s not you…” Kate trailed off. What did she want to say? The reality of the situation was that she needed to leave. She needed to get away from hunters and she definitely had to get somewhere safe for full moon. But on the other hand she liked Charlie and it was nice to ‘hang out’ with someone again. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed to just spend time with someone, someone funny and smart and nice… She shouldn’t, but the truth was she wanted to stay. Besides, she couldn’t leave Charlie to deal with this mess alone, it could get dangerous. (She tuned out the voice in her head adding that her staying might also be dangerous for Charlie.)

She scrambled for another lie.

“What I meant was, I’m not really used to working with other hunters, as, like, a team.”

Charlie smiled, relieved. 

“You’ll do fine, partner.” The last she said with a wink.


	2. Chapter 2

Kate lay awake in the motel bed listening to the cars passing by on the highway. It had been an eventful day. She was tired, and grateful for it. Usually, this close to full moon, she spent most of the day meditating and doing yoga to calm her mind and tire her body. If not she’d be antsy and feel her wolf getting restless, scratching to get out which made it harder to maintain control. There hadn’t been much time for yoga today but the work and all the new impressions had tired her out and kept her mind occupied. She still felt a little jittery though and she would have to go out and stretch her legs properly tomorrow, and feed. 

Tomorrow, right. It was two nights till full moon. Hopefully they could wrap this case up sometime tomorrow, exactly how, Kate didn’t know and didn’t really want to think about too closely. (Maybe they’d find that whoever did this had skipped town without a trace and there’d be nothing they could do about it. A girl could dream.) But none the less she needed to leave, soon. 

She focused her attention on Charlie. Her breathing was soft and steady, underlined with the sound of her heart beat, slow and even. She took a deep breath and filled her nose with the now familiar smell that had made a mark on the room, but now it was intertwined with her own. A blend that felt new despite being the mix of two familiar. She hoped they’d close the case so she wouldn’t have to just take off, leaving Charlie wondering. But then she thought about actually saying goodbye to Charlie, going their separate ways, being on her own again. She didn’t want that either. She gave a deep sigh, closed her eyes and buried her nose in the pillows where the mix of their smells was still strong from when the both had been sitting there earlier. 

When Charlie woke up the next morning Kate’s bed was empty. But before she could read anything in to it she could hear the key in the lock and the door swung open.

“Where’ve you been?” Charlie asked blearily.

“Just went for a run.” Kate said, and technically it was the truth. 

”Got breakfast!” She added holding up a take away mug and a paper bag. 

Charlie grunted in approval but rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.

“Not really a morning person, are you?” Kate said with a smile. Charlie put the pillow over head as a way of response. The whole sleepy grumpy look was kind of adorable on her. 

“I didn’t know how you liked your coffee, so I just got you plain black.” Kate tried. 

“There’s coffee?!” Charlie voice came muffled from under the pillow. She threw off the blankets and was out of bed in an instance. Her hands wrapped around the mug before she even sat down at the table.

“I brought sugar if you…” Charlie ignored her and cradled the mug to her face and took a sip, her hair in a mess, pillow marks still on her cheeks and with a blissful look on her face. 

“Oh, pure like the soul of a wood elf.” She cooed and pointedly ignored the look of amused bewilderment on Kate’s face. 

“That’s for me?” Charlie gestured towards the bag and Kate pushed it over, nodding. 

“Where’s yours?” 

“I, eh, already ate.” Also technically true. 

Charlie pulled out a doughnut from the bag.

“So, what did you have in mind for today?”

Kate just shrugged, hoping that would get her from having to come up with something.

“I was thinking we could fed up and go down to the station. There’s only so much a police report can cover, you know. Maybe someone noticed something off.”

Fed up? Kate was about to ask when she realized what Charlie was talking about. Those guys, those hunters, who had turned out to clearly not be real FBI agents – the guys who’d still let her go (or so she hoped). Of course this was a thing that hunters did. 

“I don’t have a suit.” Kate admitted. 

When Charlie raised her eyebrows in a question she added.

“I usually go about things a little differently.”

Charlie shrugged.

“Okay, I’ll go suit up and maybe you can go check out the crime scene?”  
Kate nodded. 

“Sounds good.”

Charlie finished her breakfast and disappeared into the bathroom. When she emerged a while later Kate had to remind herself not to stare. She looked so damn professional in the grey power suit. Charlie managed to catch the look on her face.

“Like what you see?” she said with a wink. Kate just smiled.

“You just clean up nice.” Kate tried for the flirty banter that seemed to be Charlie’s natural setting. She got a beaming smile in return.

Kate decided to circle around the crime scene and approach it from the forest as not to draw too much attention to herself. When she arrived she immediately noticed that something was off. She’d seen the pictures of the body, or what scraps that remained of it, and there was not nearly enough blood on the ground to account for the injuries. This was just the dropping ground, the actual killing must have taken place somewhere else. 

Not only that but there was something off with the smell too, she wasn’t sure the blood was entirely human. Then there was the distinct smell of wolf over the whole place, making her stomach sink. She took a few pictures of the area, just to feel that she was actually doing something productive. She circled the area trying to figure out from where they’d come. She managed to pick up a faint trace and followed it into the forest. Her hope dimmed as it led her to a river. She got over and tried to pick it up at the other side but with no success. They could have gone in either direction for miles, it’d be hopeless to try and find the trace again. Whoever they were dealing with really knew how to cover their tracks and that fact made Kate shiver. There was nothing more she could do and she decided to go back to the motel. 

It was quite a walk back to town and she started feeling itchy as she approached. Maybe it was the closeness to civilization this close to full moon, it felt wrong, usually this close to full moon she was getting away from people and closed confined places of towns. She definitely needed to be on her way, sooner rather than later. 

She could feel the pull as she got closer to the motel. She just knew, by instinct, that Charlie was already there. 

Once back in their motel room Kate told Charlie about what she’d found out. Not all of it, of course, there really wasn’t any way to explain what she’d found out based on the smell of the blood and the scent trace. She showed the pictures she’d taken of the crime scene and Charlie was impressed but Kate shrugged it off, it wasn’t like the photos gave them any new evidence.

Charlie presented what she’d found, which was a whole bunch of nothing. Kate was barely listening, her mind occupied with far more important things. 

She had immediately relaxed as she’d entered their room (and yes, she’d just called it their room without hesitation). The presence of Charlie, the sound of her voice, the low thrum of her heartbeat, her smell, it all lulled her into a sense of security. Like everything was okay, like she could actually, for once, relax, have fun, and not be an isolated one man army. 

This would seem like a good thing, a great thing even, but Kate couldn’t help but feel a little panic come on. She was getting attached, she was starting to imagine having things she couldn’t have. Not only that, but what scared her most was the sense she gotten of Charlie, not to mention the fact that she knew her smell by heart by now. Kate had done her research; she knew true bloods could control themselves while in their wolf form and she worked hard to asses that control over herself. She really had gotten better. It had taken her a while to figure it out but the yoga and meditation had really helped. Her focus and self-control was sharper and that paid off on the night of the full moon when the turn was inevitable. She could stay completely conscious during it all, she even had presence enough to make her own informed decisions while in wolf form even though her mind worked a little differently during those hours. 

But she had always been a lone wolf, the luxury of being selfish and having no one other than herself to look after. Everyone and everything around her strange and foreign except for the woods of plains she had made a point of familiarize with beforehand. It made it easier to make herself stay in a confided area. Wolf liked what she knew. What would happen if she picked up on Charlie’s scent while she was turned? How would she react to the scent of Charlie on her clothes? What if it messed with her self-control, what if she went looking for Charlie? Charlie could hunt her and worse Kate could lash out, hurt her. What if? 

“Hello, earth to Katie!” Charlie’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Charlie looked at her with concern and it hit Kate that she’d just called her ‘Katie’, a nickname she hadn’t heard in way too long. She definitely needed to leave, tonight. 

“Fine.” She said realizing, by the confused look on Charlie’s face that she hadn’t asked how she was. 

“I mean, sorry. You were saying?” 

Charlie still had a look of caution and concern on her face.

“I was saying… that the victim definitely looks human. But it didn’t look like any other werewolf-killing I have seen.”

Kate tried her hardest not to flinch at the w-word. She also couldn’t bring up her doubts about the victim being completely human.

“Sure, the heart was missing but like the rest of the guy was mauled, everything accounted for but torn to shreds. Like words can’t even describe it.” Charlie scrunched up her face looking mildly terrified. “It was like the he’d been used as a punching bag… or maybe more like a scratching post for our furry friend, so to speak, to take out years of aggression on.” Charlie gave a deep sigh and looked tired all of a sudden. “It was horrible, is what I’m trying to say.” 

Kate didn’t know how to respond to that. Charlie was quiet for a minute before saying.

“I think we need to go out there tonight. Into the woods, I think…”

“No!” Kate interrupted her. “I mean, do you really think that’s a good idea, what with an apparent vicious killer out there? Isn’t it better to wait until tomorrow?” They could not be out there after sundown.

Charlie raised her eyebrows in disbelief, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

“Wouldn’t have taken you for the “scared of the dark”-type. But you do have a point. It’d be hard to see shit out there and we’d probably end up losing our way in that thick forest. But full moon is tomorrow night so we’d better get up for our little hike at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”

Kate tried to hide any visibly sign of relief she felt.

“Besides, if it’s a true blood were we’re hunting it won’t matter when we go look for it since it can change whenever…” Charlie added and Kate stiffened. Apparently, Charlie had done her research too. 

After that Charlie dropped the subject and they spent the rest of the evening looking at maps of the area. There was an old lumber ranger cabin that was no longer in use far off into the woods that Charlie wanted to check out. Kate was relived. The cabin was the structure closest to the place where the body had been found but it was far from close, miles and miles of thick forest separating them. It was also located far away from the river Kate had followed the trace to. If Charlie followed that lead she would most likely head in the opposite direction of danger and hopefully be safe. By the time she would discover that the cabin was a dead end the killer could have (and hopefully would have) moved on. Really, if they had any intelligence they would flee town after such a brutal and public killing. They had to know such a thing would attract hunters. 

Charlie would be perfectly safe on her own, Kate told herself. Much safer than if Kate stayed. Kate pushed the thought away and focused on Charlie’s scrunched up nose that smoothed out as she looked up at her and smiled.

Kate waited till Charlie was fast asleep until she got up and gathered her few things in her backpack. She didn’t really want to leave without saying anything so in the end she wrote a note. There was nothing she could write to explain that didn’t put herself in danger or was an outright lie. Not really knowing what else to tell Charlie she only wrote “Good luck” and signed her name. She left the note on the table and snuck out.

Kate wanted to avoid the roads so she decided to move through the forest. Some parts of it were familiar enough by now; she had planned on spending the full moon out here after all. But, evidently, plans changed. 

It still bothered her that she hadn’t been able to follow the trail to its source so she took a little detour to the river and went alongside it, north east, for as far as she could, but still nothing. She eventually left the river behind and continued deeper into the forest.

If she was forced to find some silver linings to the curse that her new life was, this would be one of them; to get to discover place hidden far away from the eye of men. If her photography had consisted of portraits and people before it was now almost exclusively nature and landscape. It was really something to be able to walk anywhere, just step outside in any terrain and make her way. Not that she ever could ever go where she truly wanted to go. But she didn’t let herself dwell on that, she worked so hard on not being bitter about the situation, so extremely hard. 

She suddenly froze at a sound echoing through the night. Maybe it was just an actual wolf howl she told herself. But she knew there weren’t any wild wolfs living in this part of the country. When she heard it for the second time there was no doubt in her that that was a howl of a werewolf and it was coming from the south west of her. In the general direction of the town she had left hours behind, but not along the trail she had followed, no, much further west, much closer to where the old abandoned cabin was located. ‘Charlie’ she thought and turned around.


	3. Chapter 3

She checked her phone as she hurried back through the forest. Still no signal. Morning was approaching. The sky was already getting lighter and soon the sun would rise. She just hoped Charlie hadn’t managed to get her sleepy ass out of bed yet. She wasn’t really sure what she was going to do when she found her, help her out or warn her off, but she couldn’t care about that right now. She just needed to catch Charlie in time. 

When she arrived at the motel she got a sinking feeling in her stomach. Charlie was not there, she could feel it. After checking the room she went to the front desk to find out if she had checked out. She hadn’t. At least that was something. The only thing left to do was follow her to the cabin and hope she caught up with her before anything else did.

She followed the paved road. She found the little yellow car where the road was closest to the cabin. As she approached the car she could tell something was off. Charlie’s scent was palpable around the car but when Kate tried to catch her scent and follow its trail she couldn’t. She tried every direction, but there was nothing to be found. The trail kept evading her and she had no idea how or why. She’d underestimated Charlie and her ingenuity. There was nothing left for her to do but set sight for the cabin and make her way through the woods. 

After hours of treading carefully through the forest without any trace of Charlie’s scent she closed in on the cabin. Kate decided to circle around the area not wanting to approach from the roadside. She moved downwind, making a wide circle around. She was just moving within sight of the cabin when she felt something snap at her legs. Before she could turn around and catch whatever it was there was a blow to her head and everything went dark.

When she came to it again it was already evening and the sun was about to set. She was alone; she could feel it before she even opened her eyes. The wooden floor beneath her knees and forehead was worn and dirty. She tugged at her arms but the rope restraining her hands behind her back was tied tight. She tried to wiggle her legs a little but the rope around her ankles was just as tight. She took a deep breath, calming herself and taking in as much information as she could. Everywhere she could smell another werewolf, in the room and on her clothes. Kate groaned. Her limbs were sore and the fog in her head wouldn’t lift. 

She twitched at a sudden sound; someone was approaching. She looked up at the open doorway. Her body tensed up, steeling herself for...

“Charlie!”

“Shhh!” Charlie spit out. 

Charlie went behind her and started to work on the restraint around her legs. The moment she placed a hand on Kate’s back, warm and steadying, a sense of calm spread through Kate only to quickly be replaced panic. Charlie was here, safe Charlie, caring Charlie, human Charlie. It was only hours left till full moon.

“You need to get out of here. Now.” Kate told her.

Charlie gave her a strange look over her shoulder but didn’t stop tearing at the ropes. 

“That’s what I’m doing here: trying to get us out.” 

“No-“ Kate started but Charlie interrupted her.

“I hope this isn’t some ‘save yourself’ crap!” Before Kate could answer Charlie added

“… finally!” as she cut through the last scrap of the rope and Kate could feel her legs spring free.

Charlie stood up and bent over Kate to get at the ropes tying her wrists together. Kate took a deep breath and realized something; even this close up she couldn’t smell Charlie, at all. She was just about to ask her how she could swing something like that when she sensed something.

“Someone’s coming. You need to run.” Kate told Charlie in a low voice. Since she wouldn’t be trackable by smell, she might actually have a chance at getting away. But of course there was no point to it…

“I’m not leaving you.” Charlie whispered but pulled away. There was really no place to hide in the small cabin but there was a small window at the back wall and Charlie crawled her way out through it.

There was silence and then Kate heard a muffled sound followed by something she couldn’t identify.

Moments later Charlie came staggering through the door, disrupted and with her hands on her head. Kate sagged in defeat. Following in behind her was a man, no- a werewolf Kate corrected herself as she got a whiff of him, pointing a gun at Charlie’s back. He acted twitchy and Kate could tell he was affected about the approaching full moon. There was a cut over his eyebrow that was quickly healing so Charlie must have gotten a hit in. 

“In you go.” He ushered Charlie. Charlie took a stumbling step through the doorway. He followed in behind her waving the gun around.

“Don’t know what you’d imagined using this for little girl, I’m bulletproof.”

Charlie made a questioning face that only Kate could see. 

“And I really don’t have need for this either.” He said and threw the gun out over his shoulder. “These are the only weapons I need.” He said and held up his hands in front of him.

At this, Charlie actually rolled her eyes. 

The guy seemed to gain some confident and went on.

“Looks like this is my lucky day.” At this Charlie had enough of the cheesy lines and spoke up.

“So, what? You just need two more meat punching bags? Sorry dude, not gonna happen.” 

The guy chuckled. 

“I’m not gonna kill you, or at least not both of you. I’m gonna make you pack. It… didn’t go so well the first time. But this time I don’t have do the actual turning.”

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked.

“Well someone has already done the job for me. I could sense it as soon as I caught smell of you.” He was talking directly to Kate now and there was a moment of confusion on Charlies face. 

Kate could tell the exact moment the penny dropped. Charlie’s heart started to race and Kate could feel the stare she was focusing as if she thought she could see the truth for herself if she just stared hard enough. Kate was scared to meet her eyes but it was the only thing she could do. 

Charlie looked scared. Kate swallowed. The cat (so to speak) was out of the bag, there was nothing left to hide. The least she could do was to get Charlie out of this, hopefully with her own life intact, before disappearing once again.

Carefully she let her wolf side bleed into her, just a little bit, just enough to make her claws come out to start working on the rope that still held her hands behind her back. It was effortlessly this close to full moon, the hard part was keeping the rest of her as much human as possible. For the first time Kate spoke.

“So, that’s what you’re trying to do, create a pack? Do you even know the first thing about pack?” 

He didn’t like that. He gave Charlie a push, making her stumble further in to the cabin. She found her feet a bit behind Kate and she could hear her take a step away from her. It hurt. But Kate kept her focus on the guy. His ego had gotten a dent which made him talk. Kate needed the stalling.

“I know plenty! The mistake last time was simply that I got a little… too excited. I couldn’t just bite once…” He trailed off, staring into the distance as if imagining it. 

He was getting more and more animal in his gestures for every minute they got closer to full moon. A relatively newly bitten werewolf Kate guessed. Hadn’t had much experience with full moon nights. And definitely not a true blood. He shook his head out of the daydream and continued. 

“But this time I’ll remedy that. This time I’ll have a human I can really bite into.” He looked at Charlie with sparkling eyes. “And you,” he turned to Kate. “You, I don’t even have to bite. The job is already done. All I have to do when the full moon is upon us is to kill the human, present you her heart and you will accept me as your alpha, and we’ll feed… and we’ll be a pack.” 

Even Charlie scoffed at this and Kate could easily imagining her saying something like ‘What kind of crappy werewolf romance novel did you get that from?’ – but Kate could still sense her fear. He was irritable and vulnerable like this and could lash out anytime if he felt attacked. She needed to draw attention to herself so he would hopefully take it out on her instead of Charlie. That might give Charlie the opportunity and time to get out of here. Kate spoke before Charlie could.

“That’s really not how it works. You must be new at this.” This pissed him off but his focus turned to Kate.

“I get that you’re lonely, but you see, pack isn’t about submission or about owning other people. Pack is about family.” She was almost through the last of the rope. 

“Pack is about friends.” She managed to get Charlies attention and without stopping her talking she tried pointing at the back window. 

“Pack is about belonging. I would never submit to someone like you, in any way.” She could hear Charlie taking a small step towards the window and continued, going on stronger now. 

“You don’t know the first thing about pack, about any of this. You’re just a rookie.” He was getting really angry now losing more and more control of himself which meant that soon he would not be able to think rational at all. His eyes had completely left Charlie and he was solely focusing on Kate. Good. 

“I really don’t wanna do this, but you’re threatening my pack- my friend. You leave me no choice.” The last part she said as much to herself as to him. She took a deep breath and tried to press away the thoughts of what she was about to do. 

She didn’t even realize she was mumbling out loud. “It’ll be okay. I’ve been good. I’ll be good again. I swore I’d never hurt anyone again, not even my- your kind. And I won’t ever again. Not after this.” Kate snapped herself out of it and raised her voice again.

“You don’t even know what a true blood is, do you? Well let me tell you, that even though you have a little while left before the full moon rises and you turn, I-“ She cut the last of the rope and took her hands out from behind her back. Kate bit out a “Run.” under her breath but without looking at Charlie. She turned her full attention back to the guy and continued. “I can do this.” 

She could hear Charlie moving through the window and then she made herself turn.

She took a jump at the guy and tackled him to the floor. Even though he was considerably bigger than her and the full moon was not long away Kate was the stronger of them. She landed a blow to his head and he stroked back. Kate could feel the power growing in her but she didn’t want to unleash it all. She fought so hard all the time to keep that side of her under control and losing it now would feel like a defeat. But she had to protect Charlie, give her as much time to run away as she could, and if it came to it, she had to end him. She’d rather not do it in her wolf form but there was really no other option anymore. As she forced him down on the ground with a brutal move she heard her name shouted from the door.

“Kate!” 

She looked up quickly and barely had time to register Charlie standing in the doorway, gun raised. 

Shoots went off and Kate jerked at the deafening sound. It seemed like everything was moving slowly and the whole world was in high definition. All she could hear was the loud ringing noise in her ears, the smell of gun powder and silver was sharp in her nose and all she could see was Charlie. Charlie who had lowered her gun, looking right at her. She looked vulnerable. Kate looked right back and tried to convey her thoughts with just her eyes ‘It’s okay. I forgive you.’ 

Slowly Kate let her hands wonder trying to find the wound, waiting for the pain to pierce through her. The smell of blood was strong in her nose and she looked down to see it on her hands. But there wasn’t any. No blood on her hands, no bullets in her body, no searing pain. Beneath her lay the guy, the werewolf, two shots to his heart with blood still pumping out. It took a moment for Kate to process. Charlie had good aim. 

When she looked up again Charlie was gone from the doorway. Kate forced the last of her humanity to the surface as she got up and looked out the door. The only thing she saw of Charlie was her red hair disappearing in the forest heading towards the road. Kate let out a deep breath in relief and finally let her wolf take over. After all, that side of her was better at dealing with the situation. There was no room for shock or anxiety when wolf was in charge.

The last thought of Charlie left her at the same time her last bit of humanity did and the fear that she would go after her had been for naught. Wolf was high on adrenaline, because of the full moon and because of everything that had just gone down. And wolf had things to take care of, a body to get rid of.


	4. Chapter 4

When the sun finally began to rise Kate came to it again. The morning after the full moon was not something Kate enjoyed at the best of times and this one was unusually harsh. Her limbs were tired and she was covered in dirt and traces of blood. The change of clothes she usually brought was in her backpack back at the road along with other necessities and her water bottle. Her throat felt like sandpaper and there was a taste of death in her mouth. 

Slowly, she made her way back to the road. She caught herself coming up with things she wanted to ask Charlie, like what she’d done to erase her smell, only to remember last night. She was only going back to look for her backpack, maybe Charlie had left if behind. Then she’d run again, leave it all behind. She was bone tired but there was no time to rest now, she needed to get as far away from here as soon as she could. For all she knew Charlie could have alerted the cops or other hunters and they could be making their way to her at the very moment. 

When she arrived at the road she stopped abruptly. The little yellow car was still sitting in the same spot it had done yesterday. Carefully she moved towards the car. Her backpack was still on the ground where she’d left it and over the two front seats laid Charlie. She turned her head and sat up when Kate got close and made her stop dead in her tracks. Charlie looked tired and bleary eyed and without hesitating she leaned over to the passenger side and opened the door. 

“Get in.” 

Kate hesitated. Charlie noticed and gave the smallest smile.

“You must be tired and I figured you could need a warm bed.”

Kate considered turning around and running. She wasn’t sure she could trust this. But a warm bed sounded nice right about now and she really didn’t want to run and she really, really wanted to trust Charlie. So she got in.

She woke up in the motel parking lot. She’d been lulled to sleep by the warmth in the car and the rummaging of the engine but the sudden stop had torn her from a bad dream. She glanced over to Charlie who looked at her with concern. 

“Nightmare?” Charlie asked. Kate just nodded. She wasn’t ready to use her voice yet, wasn’t sure if she even could and was afraid of what she would have to say to explain if she started talking. 

Charlie ushered her out of the car and to their motel room with a firm hand on her back. Kate almost whimpered at the first contact, relief flooding her body at the simple touch. Charlie sat her down at the foot of her bed and disappeared to the bathroom. She reemerged with a toothbrush and a washcloth. While Kate tried getting the awful taste out of her mouth Charlie bent down and untied and removed her shoes. When she moved to clean off the dirt on Kate’s face and the blood on her hands Kate started crying. She wasn’t even aware of it at first, everything just got blurry and when Charlie whispered

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” She suddenly noticed the tears running down her face. Charlie’s hands were carefully touching her, the easiness of the simple skin to skin contact was just so overwhelming. Charlie raised one hand to brush Kate’s hair out of her eyes and all Kate could give her was a weak smile. But it was like Charlie got it anyway. 

Charlie put two water bottles on the night stand with the words “You, hydrate.” And honest to Chuck tucked her into bed. Kate barely had time to close her eyes before sleep pulled her under. 

She woke with a startle a while later. She always had nightmares after the full moon but in time they had gotten less terrifying as she gained more control over herself. But this was a nightmare back at its full force; they hadn’t been this bad since the first few full moons after she’d first been turned. Charlie was at her side in an instance, brushing her hair away and whispering reassuring words. Kate focused on her voice, on her touch and soon she was breathing evenly in sync with Charlie. 

“Move over.” Charlie said. Kate gave her a puzzled look. 

“Just move over you big bad snuggle wolf.” She said with a smile. Kate was completely stunned, but scooted over, making room for Charlie. Charlie lay down facing her and started carding her hand through Kate’s hair. For a moment Kate was completely baffled. This woman, this hunter, who just last night had seen her turn, had seen what a monster she was, was now lying next to her, framing her vulnerable body around Kate, just so she could comfort her. Charlie made her breaths deep and slow and Kate didn’t even realized that she was drifting back to sleep again.

When Kate woke up the next time it was late in the evening and the sun was about to set. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept this good, especially after a full moon. She realized that what had woke her up was Charlie stroking her back with calm motions. Kate looked up and saw her looking at her phone with a concerned look on her face.

“Everything okay?” Kate asked. Her voice was a little cracked. It was the first thing out of her mouth after all of this. She hadn’t even thought to speak, it’d just come out.

Charlie looked down at her and smiled. 

“Yeah, I just gotta take this call.” She got out of the bed and walked towards the door. 

“I’ll be back. I’m not going anywhere, promise.” She turned around and said as she closed the door behind her. 

Kate shuffled deeper down in the pillow and indulged in the heavy mix of their scents. Maybe this is was pack feels like she thought to herself. She could hear Charlie at the other side of the door talking on her phone. Charlies end of the conversation she could make out crystal clear but the man on the line sounded a bit muffled to her.

“Hey D-“

“Charlie! Why aren’t you picking up you’re phone?!”

“Eh, this is me. Picking up. My Phone.” 

“Damnit Charlie! You can’t leave a message like that and then go a-wall!”

She could hear Charlie sigh.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you guys, honestly I’m sorry.”

“Do we need to get down there; we can come down and help or pick you up or whatever. Just say the word and Sam and I will haul our asses to wherever you’re at.”

No, no, it’s okay, I’m fine! There is no need for you to come down here, nope!” Charlie’s voice was rushed.

“Not convincing me, and certainly not making me worry less.”

Kate could hear her letting out a deep breath. 

“Dean, I appreciate your concern. Really, it means a lot to me. But we’re fine, honestly.” 

There was a moment of silence, maybe the other person- Dean, mumbled something on the other end of the line.

“Wait, we’re fine?! 

Charlie laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, well, you’re the one always telling me to bring back up.”

“You teamed up with a hunter?!” 

“Yeah… she’s kind of an expert in the field.” 

There was an amusement to his voice when he spoke next.

“Oh, I see how it is… She hot?”

“Smokin’” Charlie replied without missing a beat.

The Dean guy laughed at the other end of the line. When he’d calmed down, he asked again.

“So, you guys are really okay?”

“Yeah, we’re really okay.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks Dean.”

“Yeah, yeah. Answer your phone next time, okay?”

“Will do. Say hi to Sam for me.”

There was a grunt followed by a 

“Take care, nerd.”

“You too-“

A click ended the call. Kate could hear Charlie still outside the door. She snuggled deeper down under the blankets. She could get used to this. Having someone close. Having Charlie close. Charlie who knew about her and still wanted to be around her. She didn’t know what would happen next, but it felt somewhat okay. More okay than it ever had before. She’d found this, she’d found Charlie, she’d had something good. It felt like maybe anything would be possible. Maybe she’d go visit her sister. Maybe things could be good.

When Charlie got back in to the room Kate lifted her head and met her gaze right on. Charlie had a smile on her face and Kate couldn’t help but mirror it right back. This was a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obscure reference to [Let it snow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715503) by dollylux because I couldn’t help myself.
> 
> Shout out to [nemo_r](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nemo_r/pseuds/nemo_r) who named one of their fics after a line in that same Emily Haines song and was the reason I discovered her music in the first place. Thank you!


End file.
